Music

Suzanne WeissNovember 16, 2014San Francisco,
The Curlew River runs fast among the fens, dividing East from West, person from person. So goes the description in Benjamin Britten’s stirring little opera, “Curlew River.” Part medieval mystery play, part Noh drama (the libretto, by William Plomer, was ...

French mezzo Karine Deshayes in the title role leads a wonderful cast in Rossini's bel canto gem.

Suzanne WeissNovember 11, 2014San Francisco,
Instead of a fairy godmother, we have a wise old tutor and the glass slippers are now a pair of diamond bracelets. Aside from that, everything is as usual — only funnier — in Rossini’s operatic version of the timeless ...

These strangely paired short operas display the best (and worst) of the director's concepts.

Karen WeinsteinOctober 27, 2014Los Angeles,
Why pair Baroque "Dido and Aeneas" with Bartok's 20th century "Bluebeard's Castle"? According to program notes by director Barrie Kosky of the Komische Oper Berlin they have much in common. His most convincing argument is that they are "two operas ...

Blessed by a stupendous soprano and dashing tenor, this rendition of Puccini's tragic Roman romance nevertheless has a few rough edges and a notably lackluster Act I finale.

Suzanne WeissOctober 27, 2014San Francisco,
Take one good-looking couple, she a fantastic soprano and he a very good tenor, add a not-very-threatening villain, a heavy-handed conductor, mix well and bake for a little over two hours. What comes out of the oven is San Francisco ...

Abandon your preconceptions about how Handel should be presented. This brilliant production and stellar cast will turn every one of them upside-down.

October 19, 2014San Francisco,
Near the end of Act I of this decidedly comic British production of “Partenope,” in its company premiere at San Francisco Opera, a breeze wafts through an open window, billowing the diaphanous curtain in seductive swirls. That undulating fabric is ...

Though the women in this production do their best, they cannot save their miscast and lackluster male counterparts from keeping Verdi's tuneful work earthbound.

Suzanne WeissOctober 12, 2014San Francisco,
What better way to celebrate the birthday of Giuseppe Verdi than with his famous costume party? And so it was that I found myself on October 10 at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House raising a metaphorical glass to ...

While updating Verdi's tale of star-crossed romance to the Roaring Twenties is open to debate, this production remains true to his glorious music.

Karen WeinsteinSeptember 16, 2014Los Angeles,
The question: To be or not to be faithful to the original setting of an opera is known to evoke passions as intense as those expressed by the originalists fighting with the rest of us who think the Constitution should ...

Patricia Racette, stunning in the title role, is matched in vocal power by tenor Brandon Jovanovich and bass Raymond Aceto in a new and moving production of Carlisle Floyd's tale of lust and hypocrisy in 1930s Tennessee.

Suzanne WeissSeptember 14, 2014San Francisco,
“Ain’t it a pretty night,” sings the soprano and, whenever “Susannah” is in town, the night is more than pretty. It’s gorgeous.
Carlisle Floyd’s 1955 work, written when he was only 27, may be the quintessential American opera ...

Despite a cluttered set and problematic staging, this new production soars on the voices of Sondra Radvanovsky and Jamie Barton.

Suzanne WeissSeptember 13, 2014San Francisco,
Bel canto means “beautiful singing” and that’s what you get in San Francisco Opera’s new production of Bellini’s “Norma.” With the fantastic American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role, once utterly owned by the likes of Maria Callas ...

Shelley Jackson and Joseph Dennis go centerstage at SF Opera

Michael Wade SimpsonAugust 5, 2014Santa Fe,
Two-thousand fourteen may be remembered at Santa Fe Opera as the year of the understudy. First there was Shelley Jackson, a second-year apprentice, stepping in as Norina, the female lead in “Don Pasquale.” Laura Tatulescu, the soprano originally cast in ...